AN: hi all, and thanks very much for reading. I have gone over the previous chapters and made some changes. Very minor though, just to help the flow of the story (hopefully).

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; I just think he's awesome.

Warning: May contain spoilers and/or clichés, if you are bothered or offended by either; why are you reading fanfiction?

'thinking'

"speaking"

jutsu

demon speak

Chapter 2.

"A Ninja must do what they can in the time that they have." This was the lesson Naruto learnt on his very first c-rank mission. Unlike in wave where they had only a matter of days to train before the return of Zabuza, Naruto had literally years in which to improve himself before anything of significance was to occur. Though he had plenty of time, the body in which he found himself seriously inhibited what he could do.

For the last five years Naruto's existence in the orphanage had been largely sedentary in nature. A typical day for Naruto began at dawn when he awoke thanks to his natural morning chakra surge that would awaken him every morning for most of his childhood. It was not until the heavy usage of chakra during training of his teenage years that he was able to sleep in. He would then spend the morning huddled by his window, staring over the orphanage wall, watching as Konoha awoke. At nine every morning he was finally let out of his room by a caretaker.

Naruto would wash after all the other children in the then cold water, then head into the eating hall where he was served firsts. Firsts consisted of one rice ball and a cup of miso soup. The children would then line up for seconds, consisting of another rice ball, a small grilled fish and another larger cup of miso soup. Though Naruto always joined the line for seconds, there was never enough for him.

After breakfast the children had lessons on how to read and write and look after themselves, which all orphans were required to receive by law. Naruto was ignored more often than not, during these lessons and left alone to learn as he could. The first time around Naruto had managed to pick up some of these skills but it was not until his travels with Jiraiya, when he was required to help edit the "great works of literature" that he managed to acquire what most would call a functional level of literacy.

Lunch was served after lessons, once again small servings in two rounds. Then the children would be released out into the yard for their hour of mandatory outside play time as stipulated in the Orphan's Act. The other children were allowed to play until dinner time but Naruto would invariably be punished after the first hour was up usually for trying to approach the other children to play or on one memorable occasion simply for breathing.

Naruto would then be locked in his room for the rest of the evening. The only interruption to this time would be when his dinner was delivered, consisting of a rice ball, a small vegetable croquet and another cup of miso soup.

Naruto resigned himself to a continuation of this routine, as he could see no real way that he could change it in his current powerless state. Instead he used his time to prepare himself as best he could for the trials ahead, by practicing his chakra control exercises and starting to train his body. He wanted to build up his stamina and strength for when he would be out on his own.

Over the last six months Naruto had used the early morning hours to meditate. At first only observing his chakra network but then gradually over time he began to exert his will upon it, calling his chakra to concentrate in various parts of his body such as his hands and his feet.

At last he judged that his control was enough to begin the most basic of chakra exercises taught to academy students, the leaf exercise. The idea of this exercise being to hold a leaf upon the forehead with only the force of the student's chakra. Too much chakra and the leaf would be blasted across the room, too little and the leaf would simply fall off.

When Naruto had first attempted this exercise at the academy he could not complete it as his lowest level of possible chakra use at the time would reduce the leaf to dust with each attempt. At the age of five and a half however his reserves were such that he could at last learn this most basic of ninja skills.

Naruto took two months to master holding the leaf upon his forehead, practicing each day when locked in his room. He then learned to hold the leaf on other parts of his body so that he could practice the exercise continuously by hiding leaves beneath his clothes. Within a couple of weeks he constantly had at least ten leaves slowly circling his torso beneath his shirt as he manipulated his chakra to keep the leaves not only in place but also in constant motion.

He made a game of racing the leaves seeing which one he could make circle his body the fastest. This has the advantage of training his mind not only to use chakra but also to multitask. It also helped relieve the relentless boredom he felt during this time.

In the afternoons Naruto would spend time trying to build his body with push ups, sit ups and flexibility exercises. Whilst exercising he would speak aloud exercising his disused throat and facial muscles as it had taken another year originally for him to start speaking in sentences. He would recite passages from The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja, which he had memorised during his travels with Jiraiya, or to freak out his carers when he sensed them near he would recite passages from Icha Icha he had learnt whilst editing the series. He was still a prankster at heart after all.

The only problem with this exercise was though his chakra reserves were enough to keep him relatively healthy considering the small amount of food he was given, it was not enough to encourage the growth of muscle and bone strength. For his physical exercises to produce any real benefit he would need more food, and for this he fell back onto his most hidden of skills, his stealth.

Naruto of the "kill me" bright orange suit was not widely known for his stealth. But years of running and hiding from drunks and later Jonin and ANBU had raised his levels of stealth to an amazing degree. When he wanted to Naruto could virtually make himself invisible, such as when he painted the Hokage Mountain in the middle of the day without being caught until it was complete, or when he wanted to spy on Lady Tsunade. It was only when he had received the knowledge that he was after that she was ever able to detect his presence.

No, despite popular opinion, Naruto was very good at remaining undetected and it was this skill that he employed over the next six months to sneak into the kitchens of the orphanage to obtain much needed sustenance. Making sure to always leave no trace of his actions, relocking every lock so that no suspicion could fall upon him. Luckily his clothing was second hand and three sizes too big so no one took notice of any change in his physique.

While he was at it, Naruto also began making preparations for the future. Three months before his sixth birthday be began gathering the supplies he would need to survive on his own and to secret them in a hole he dug beneath a large tree by the orphanages back gate.

Naruto hoped that his improved behaviour and less hyperactive personality might allow him to stay within the orphanage this time around, but the steely glare that he often caught on the Matron's face when she looked at him kept him realistic in his outlook. On the morning after his sixth birthday his fears were realised and once again he was out on his own.